Bell's Special Double Cream Stout | Bell's Brewery, Inc.

Notes / Commercial Description:
Double Cream Stout derives its name from its smooth, creamy texture, not the ingredients. Completely dairy-free, this stout blends ten different specialty malts to yield a remarkable depth of flavor. With only a touch of burnt notes, Double Cream Stout focuses on the softer, cocoa & espresso-like aspects of roasted malt.

The beer sports a lovely jet black color, it pours out like motor oil, thick and viscous, a nice caramel colored head sits atop the beer. Molasses and chocolate aromas leap out of the glass, some roasted espresso and burnt wood support them with some smokey char that is fairly abrasive. The flavors are nice, especially as it warms. Initially the roasted flavors are extremely overpowering but as it warms it thankfully mellows out. The flavors still have a nice roast to them, toasted espresso and coffee blends well with some woodiness that is really only described as campfire wood. Dark bitter chocolate flavors blend nicely with some sweeter and creamier flavors, molasses, toffee and vanilla are all minor players that round out a very complex flavor profile. The body is viscous, creamy and milky without being chewy.

Verdict: Certainly an interesting cream stout, the roasted flavors are definitely very strong and at times overly abrasive. The body is great though, glad to have tried it, but I probably won’t be seen hunting this one down again.

Many thanks to Kzoobrew for the chance to taste this brew. Poured from bottle into Brooklyn tulip. Pours a light-bodied very dark brown/black. tan head, some lacing, very little head. Smell- raisins, vanilla, bready, brown sugar. Taste- molasses, deep rich caramel, definitely some raisins and vanilla, brown sugar, some mocha chocolate notes on the end with some nice roasty bitterness. This beer is much more complex and enjoyable than I expected. The play between the creamy texture and the borderline quad brown sugar and dark fruit flavors are enjoyable. This is a great beer in my book, that I would try again.

Dark brown to black opaque brew with almost no foam, just a fine lacing. Surprising to me is that this lacing lasted till the end. Smell is malty with a hint of molasses. Taste is more complex than that hinted at by the smell, with roasted malts, espresso, and dark chocolate, with just a hint of warming alcohol. It is thankfully missing the syrupy sweetness that i was expecting. The mouth feel is fairly smooth.

I am finding that this stout is growing on me, becoming more complex and interesting as it warms. Definitely something to look for next winter, when my tastes turn back to porters and stouts.

Pour is nearly opaque with a bit of dark brown around the edges. a thin band of dark tan lacing.
The aroma is roasty formost and really dark cacao.
Flavor wise there is a roast that is very espresso like in many ways, smooth and creamy with a tight refined roast. Very chocolate like, and some lactose flavors.
The mouthfeel is full for a stout this size, middle of the road carbination.